How does a DBA go about "pitching" for money for a software tool, or any other resource? And what factors affect the likelihood of success? We all think we know, but could we do this part of the job more effectively?
2009-01-26
94 reads
Are SQL Server DBAs prone to going around boasting about the size of their BCHR? And does it have any significance?
2009-01-12
371 reads
Attending a conference and hearing about all the latest and greatest new features is a bit like spending holiday sampling exotic seafood and imbibing strange new cocktails. When you return, you're decidedly in the mood for a pie and a pint of beer.
2008-12-01
353 reads
We can now clearly see two opposing trends in the way SQL Server is being used in applications. The dumb database brigade regards SQL Server as simply a 'data dump'. The 'database fanatics' think SQL Server on its own can meet the needs of all but the most demanding applications. Can these opposing trends be reconciled? Tony Davis would like to think so.
2008-12-01
231 reads
Many people who spend time contributing to technical forums bemoan the increasing amount of time and energy they expend trying to help people who seem unwilling or unable to help themselves. At the same time, they say, the courtesy is deteriorating and the number of people willing to "stir things up" for the sake of it increases. Is there a solution to this?
2008-10-27
120 reads
Over the years, there have been several attempts to turn conventional RDBMSs into object relational databases, by inserting an intermediate layer. The driving force behind this was the generally-held assumption that the relational model could not handle complex data types.
2008-06-24
290 reads
I see, with some relief that the threatened removal of Rules and Defaults in SQL Server 2008 hasn’t happened. There has been a stay of execution. Even though they are documented, they still come with a dire warning that they are deprecated and will be removed in future versions. They have fallen foul of the SQL Standards committee, and we are now supposed to use check constraints instead.
2008-06-23
187 reads
The other day, I was chatting to a keen PostgreSQL user. We're used to having free databases, such as IBM DB2 Express-C, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, SQLite and Oracle XE, but PostgreSQL is different in that it is open source. It is a proper, dedicated community too, I was told...
2008-06-09
128 reads
A guest editorial from Tony Davis, on how to test whether someone will make a good DBA or developer.
2008-05-27
239 reads
If impeccable technical skills are a "given", what are the soft shills that will make you an Exceptional DBA rather than a competent DBA?
2008-04-28
1,466 reads
By Steve Jones
I type fairly well. Well, I type fast, but I do wear out a...
By ReviewMyDB
Index maintenance has always meant nightly jobs and a window you have to defend....
I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How We Handled a Vendor...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Cognitive Coverage
I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database.
salesperson commission Brian 12 Brian 16 Andy 7 Andy 14 Andy 21 Steve 20 Steve NULLAll the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson.
SELECT SalesPerson
, AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
FROM commission
GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve? See possible answers